10 Reasons Why Murray Won’t Win Wimbledon
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Murray has skill, but 2009 is not his year to become Wimbledon champion.
As play kicks off for the second day of tennis from SW19, Britain collectively holds its breath in the hope that Andy Murray can accomplish the miraculous and become a champion of Wimbledon.
Holding that breath will be a wasted effort. The sad reality is that Murray won’t win Wimbledon this year, so we can collectively exhale and enjoy the tournament for what it is – a great spectacle of fantastic athletes playing at the highest level of their sport.
There is no question that Murray has improved his game, he is a better player now than he was 12 months ago, when he was comprehensively dumped out of the tournament by Rafael Nadal. However, whilst he has improved Murray is not a world beater yet. He may be in the future, but here are 10 reasons why he won’t be lifting the winner’s trophy two weeks from now.
10. World Rankings
Murray is currently the ranked number three in the world and was ranked third favourite to win Wimbledon behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The men’s singles championship hasn’t been won by a contender outside of the top two in the world since 2001, when Goran Ivanisevic pulled off the most spectacular underdog story in tennis history. The Croatian giant only qualifed through a wild card but managed to slug his way to final, eventually beating Patrick Rafter in a gruelling five-set epic. Rankings rarely lie and, at the moment, Murray’s ranking isn’t high enough to secure the trophy.
9. Play by Numbers
In the last 40 years, the championship has been won by America 15 times, Sweden seven times, Australia five times, Switzerland five times, Germany four times and the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Croatia and Spain once. Great Britain has been nowhere to be seen. You’ll be hearing this stat a lot over the next two weeks: the last British man to win Wimbledon was Fred Perry in 1936, the numbers are not in Murray’s favour.
8. Overwhelming Expectation
Winning the 2009 AEGON Championships at Queen’s two weeks ago was one of the worst things that could have happened to Murray. He demolished everyone he played without dropping a set, becoming the first Brit in over 70 years to win the competition. That one victory on grass courts has raised the level of expectation to meteoric proportions. Murray has now been elevated to Jesus status around the tennis courts, which will only add to the pressure mounting on the shoulders of what is still a very young 22 year old.
7. Strength
Murray has been hitting the gym to build his strength and it shows in his impressive physique. However, compared with some of his competitors, Murray still lacks the strength to deliver the power shots that can be match winners.
The strength of players like Nadal, Djokovic and Roddick give them an edge on service as well as delivering scintillating ground strokes.
Murray has a finesse with his tennis but sometimes power is what is needed to carry a player through, and at the moment, his strength is still lacking.
6. Injury?
Murray hasn’t been the luckiest of players when it comes to injuries, having to pull out of major tournaments with injuries to his thumb, wrist and ankle. Although arguably in the best shape of his life, Murray is still prone to injury. The gruelling schedule of matches and tournaments might just take its toll on the player right when he needs to be at peak fitness.
5. Drop Shot
There has been much written about the Murray drop shot and the skill with which Murray can deliver balls which apparently just die after hitting the ground. The problem is that the drop shot is a niche shot, which should be employed sparingly to win crucial points. Particularly on grass, Murray has been caught out before by relying too much on this technique and once opponents know he is going to play a lot of drop shots they react to it and punish him for it. Murray is touted as one of the great tacticians of the game but his dependence on the drop shot is a grave tactical error.
4. Anger
In the words of that wise tennis coach, Jedi Master Yoda: “Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering”.
Andy Murray doesn’t have the best temperament in the game. More often than not his anger leads him down a path of hateful tennis and the suffering of a loss.
Anger leads to the dark side and Murray will need to control his outbursts if he wants to become a Grand Slam champion.
Channelled correctly, a little bit of anger can be a good thing. When do you ever see Federer lose his rag though?
3. Pressure
Murray believes that he thrives on pressure – the pressure to perform when the world is watching on the biggest stages in world tennis. Looking at the statistics though, you would have to say that the opposite is true. Murray’s 12 tournament wins so far in his fledgling career may have come against some of the best players in the world, dispatching the likes of Hewitt, Verdasco, Djokovic Roddick and Nadal, but they haven’t been at the top tournaments. When it comes down to the big occasions, Murray chokes and the pressure gets too much. Wimbledon could be a step too far this year.
2. Stamina
Murray has referred to three or four weeks last year in Miami, where he did intense physical training out in 40°C heat in order to improve his stamina. Whilst that has helped the young Scot get through some tough matches, his lasting power has only truly been tested once since his Wimbledon exit last year. In all the tournaments Murray has played, only once has he had the stamina to last seven matches in a two-week period; that was at the US Open. Guess who beat him on that day? None other than Roger Federer, a man with proven stamina and consistency
1. Federer
Regardless of all the other reasons why Murray won’t win Wimbledon, one factor outweighs them all: Roger Federer. Federer is back and he is hungry again.
The Swiss star may have been through a dip in form but his clinching of the French Open sealed his place in the tennis hall of fame. Federer is without doubt one of the most talented people to ever say: “This tennis lark? Yeah I’ll give that a go.” Federer wants to beat Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles and it would be fitting to do so at the tournament that Sampras dominated for so long during the 90s.
Murray has beaten Federer six times out of eight meetings and he is one of the few players to have a winning record against the legend. However, Federer has always won in the big matches when it mattered, in finals, and no-one is going to stop him clinch his place in history, especially not Andy Murray.
Agree with point 1, 100%.
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Someone else who thinks Murray is nothing more than a jumped up brat with zero chance of winning Wimbledon. Let’s roll on to our next disappointment – The Ashes.
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Pretty stupid article:
10: Murray is currently the ranked number three in the world and was ranked third favourite to win Wimbledon behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Nadal isn’t playing, so that puts Murray at no 2. And 7 years is hardly an unbreakable trend anyway.
9: In the last 40 years, the championship has been won by America 15 times, Sweden seven times, Australia five times, Switzerland five times, Germany four times and the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Croatia and Spain once. Great Britain has been nowhere to be seen.
This is obviously retarded. This isn’t the Davis cup, it’s an individual competition. “Germany” has never won Wimbledon, Boris Becker has. How many Dutchmen had won before Krajicek? Or Swedes before Borg?
8: Winning the 2009 AEGON Championships at Queen’s two weeks ago was one of the worst things that could have happened to Murray.
Wait, what? So if he’d crashed out in the first round he’d be a shu-in?
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7: Murray still lacks the strength to deliver the power shots that can be winners.
No. He doesn’t.
6: Although arguably in the best shape of his life, Murray is prone to injury.
He’s not injured though is he? Sure, his arm might fall off tomorrow, or he might get kidnapped by ninjas. But he hasn’t has he? You can’t cite something that hasn’t actually happened.
5: There has been much written about the Murray drop shot and the skill with which Murray can deliver balls which apparently just die after hitting the ground.
Yes, his excellent dropshot is a terrible liability. Somehow.
4: In the words of that wise tennis coach, Jedi Master Yoda: “Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering”.
Yoda sucked at tennis.
3: Pressure.
I think you’ll find everyone at the tournament will be under pressure.
2: Stamina.
Whatever, the kid’s in better shape than 90% of the players on the circuit.
1: Federer.
Yup. Fair enough. This article should have been
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called “The One Reason Murray Won’t Win Wimbledon”.
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I don’t know where you get your info from. Yoda owns at tennis.
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plenty of arguments one could make for Andy Murray not winning Wimbledon. Almost all of the reasons in this argument, however, are ridiculous.
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You sound indoctrinated.
British Murray Media Madness!
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I’m a Murray fan and I think he’s got a good chance of winning but if he plays Federer in the final then oops.
If Fed wins then he will be world number 1 again and he won’t let that slip. Sorry Andy.
Better luck next time mate.
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Such a negative article. The only credible ‘reason’ is Federer. Why can’t we get behind Murray instead of slating him? He didn’t get to number 3 in the world for no reason, he must be doing something right.
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Andy Murray has choked at the Grand Slams a lot. Andy Murray also has anger managment issues. He hits his racquet with his fist when he gets angry. He did that when he was facing Kendrick and started bleeding. The guy needs to be more professional. Plus Federer sucks.
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I truly agree with what the article has presented to me. It is true that Federer ****s his ass in finals (eg. Bangkok – 4 years ago and US Open – last year). Choking is also a big factor, just take a look at French Open this year – Gonzalez absolutely caned his ass even though he was playing quite poorly most of the time – and Murray took a nice set off him in the 2nd set, but then his wheels suddenly fell off! Anger management – a massive issue to Murray, I reckon, one of the main reasons why he’s been kept in the dark when it comes to Grand Slams. I’m not so sure about his strength – he’s quite solid in that area, although yes, consistency is a real problem. His playing style is also a problem, it’s just way too predictable when it comes down to important tournaments – especially Grand Slams. So yeah, these factors give me enough evidence that NO!!! Murray is def’s not going to win Wimbledon 2009!!!
But that’s not to say that he won’t ever win a Grand Slam in his flowering career.
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He’s got potential, but he’s just not quite up there at the moment. Maybe once Federer’s gone (or maybe Nadal too), he will def’s win a major.
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It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy with regard to the rankings.
If Andy beats Federer in the final he will be the No. 1 in the world rankings. Does that mean he will be favourite for all future tournaments when Nadal is fit?
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Could have been thought about better than you wrote it.
I can only think of one reason that Murray may not win – Roger Federer.
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Why did Murray lose to Roddick?
Murray’s strength was not enough to defeat the American. His serve simply could not compete with Roddick’s. Murray started to lose, then he let his anger get the better of him which caused further unforced errors. By the fourth set, Murray looked drained and exhausted, he didn’t have the stamina to go the distance.
Benny Henson
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